Felipe Massa on Thursday got his 2011 campaign off to a fiery start.
With only a chilly shakedown at Fiorano behind him, the Brazilian was a few laps into his proper test debut in the new F150 at Valencia when oil began to leak onto the exhausts.

Massa stopped at the side of the track but a fire broke out.

“It is unlikely that the car will be back on track much before 3 in the afternoon,” said the Italian team after assessing the damage.

Before completing the first two of the three test days in Spain, Fernando Alonso had been working on adjusting the F150′s setup to the difficult new Pirelli tyres.

“Felipe must now continue this work,” the Spaniard had stridently told his country’s reporters at Valencia late on Wednesday.